Playstation

As hotly-anticipated games go, Elder Scrolls Online is probably one of the most anticipated, and so news that Bethesda Softworks has not only confirmed its console release but dropped one of the more controversial subscription details is most welcome. Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited will land on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on June 9th, following its March 17th arrival on PC and Mac. Even better, Bethesda is ditching the monthly subscription the promise of which so annoyed gamers last year, though there'll still be in-game purchases for extra content, and an optional "ESO Plus" subscription.

The way we enjoy our movies and other media has solidly shifted away from physical discs and cable TV and toward hard drives packed with files. Without a proper setup, firing up those files for movie night can prove more difficult than popping in a DVD, and so many turn toward entertainment setups to streamline the process. Plex is arguably one of the most popular option out there, providing a clean and easily accessible library interface -- and, now, it is available for PlayStation users in North and South America.

This week it's become apparent that the epic pixel-heavy side-scrolling shooter known as Broforce will not be released on Xbox One. According to the creators of this game at Free Lives Games, "as far as I know Microsoft has a clause in their contract where they won't accept an indie game if it launches on Xbox after PlayStation." This comes from Creative Director Evan Greenwood at Free Lives Games, who also confirmed this week that Sony "reached out to us with a deal we couldn't reasonably refuse."

Sony is hoping to pacify PlayStation gamers frustrated by the PSN downtime over the holidays, apologizing for the gaming network being offline, and offering free service and cheaper games as a mea culpa. Having seen the PlayStation Network brought down by hacking group Lizard Squad on Christmas Day, and then taken several days to bring it back to life afterwards, Sony is automatically adding five days of PlayStation Plus service to all subscribers or trial users impacted on December 25th. Meanwhile, there'll be a discount on games sometime this month, though it's unclear whether PS3 and PS4 owners will be suitably placated by it.

This week the folks at Sony have revealed the first several games that'll be pushed to the public in their PlayStation Plus users for free. This includes The Swapper and Infamous: First Light for PlayStation 4. It also includes Prototype 2 and Duck Tales Remastered for PlayStation 3. PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) users will be treated to Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition as well as the game "Whoa Dave!" This should be a smooth first at-bat for the PlayStation Plus program for the start of the year 2015.

This week Gmail is out in China. Most Google services have been disrupted in China since June. Google's own traffic listing for Gmail in China shows the service dropping down to zero near the end of the 25th of December - it's been at around a zero signal since then. Imagine if this happened in the United States. Even a disruption of an hour in the USA results in a news blast and a Twitter explosion - imagine if not only Gmail was out, but all Google services at once.

This morning it was made clear that Sony was having trouble with their PlayStation Network. Meanwhile Microsoft was having trouble keeping Xbox Live online - and the hacker group Lizard Squad claimed responsibility. According to reports throughout the day, it would appear that the Xbox Live system had largely repaired problems by around 10AM Central Time - with another spike near 2PM Central Time - with uptime returning again here closer to 5PM Central Time. Sony's PlayStation Network saw problems from around midnight until 10AM Central Time, and again over the past several hours leading up to 5PM Central Time.

In a rather surprising move, Sony has teamed up with Samsung to make the PlayStation Now game streaming/rental service available to Samsung's upcoming roster of Smart TVs next year. This will indeed spread Sony's gaming ecosystem beyond its consoles and into the realm of Smart TVs, giving those without a PS4 or PS3 in their homes access to Sony's wide range of games, mostly from the PS3 generation. On the other hand, it could also give buyers less incentive to buy a Sony Smart TV.

This week the folks at PlayStation UK have decided to bring the heat to their Retro PlayStation 4 release with a system called #20YearsofCharacters. With this system they've set clues in their website that ultimately lead to a sales portal for the 20th Anniversary Sony PlayStation 4. The problem is - too many people want it all at once. The website portal is down for some, and loading with extreme slowness for most. Once in, there's no guarantee you'll find what you're looking for, anyway.

It seems Chrstimas came a month early for Microsoft. We saw it last week and now another independent research confirms it. Microsoft's Xbox One has indeed, for the first time, outsold the PlayStation 4 in the US, though only considering the month of November. The recent holiday shopping spree was a big break for Microsoft's console, beleaguered by its rivalry with Sony's counterpart. That victory was not without its price, however, as the repeated price cuts implemented over the past months are believed to have been Microsoft's ace.

The Xbox One might have had the crown this recent holiday season, but Sony's consoles are getting ready to take on a completely fresh and potentially huge market next month. Going behind schedule by a month, Sony has just announced that it will start selling the PlayStation 4 (CUH-1000 series) and the PlayStation Vita (PCH-2000) in China starting January 11 next year. Given than Microsoft isn't far behind, this will mark a new arena in the battle for console supremacy between the two giants.

Overnight, Sony’s PlayStation store went down. For roughly two hours, the online portal for PlayStation users was unavailable, and a hacker conglomerate is taking responsibility. The Lizard Squad, which cryptically refer to themselves as “lizards” who “want to watch the world burn”, seem to be claiming responsibility for the disruption in service. In a Twitter post right around the same time as the PlayStation store went down, The Lizard Squad said “PSN Login #offline #LizardSquad”. Sony said they were aware of the service disruption, and are looking into it.